From the 1867 Journal of the Water Board minutes comes the following: December 30, 1867: The Committee on Lake Chapman having recommended a change of name for said lake, it was on motion resolved that the said lake be called “Druid Lake”. And that the Engineer be directed to erase the name Lake Chapman from any and all buildings, structures, charts or drawings, on or in which name now appears and to substitute therefore the same as above, “Druid Lake”.
I wonder who ex. Mayor Chapman pissed off? I could not find anything in the Maryland State Archives blog that would warrant such drastic actions. As a side note – transcribing script gives me a headache. I’m only at page 279 of 462!
John Lee Chapman was a Republican who apparently pissed off both sides of the Baltimore population:
Wilbur F. Coyle, “The Mayors of Baltimore” (Reprinted from The Baltimore Municipal Journal, 1919), 106-115.:
John Lee Chapman, who served several terms as Mayor of Baltimore, first assumed this office in the capacity of Mayor ex officio, January 6th, 1862, and continued as ex officio to November 10th of that year. He became the City’s acting executive as a result of the arrest of Mayor George William Brown, who was taken into custody by the Federal authorities September 12th, 1861.
Mayor Chapman’s administration, which covered much of the Civil War period, was characterized by bitter partisan feeling and an analytic investigation of the situation, if space permitted, would not be uninteresting, for as matter developed there were several irreconcilable classes of citizens.
Only people who were known to be unqualifiedly in favor of the Union were tolerated in office, and this applied to the Mayor, City Council and other municipal officers of that period. In this way much of the Civil War legislation passed by the City Council did not represent nor reflect the sentiment of a large and (under normal conditions) influential part of the community. At times considerable feeling was displayed. There was at least passive resistance to some of the Councilmanic acts, but in the end the Union measures prevailed, which, of course, were heartily endorsed by citizens who had allied themselves with the Federal cause.
Yes, I saw that on the MSA page listing all the mayors. I just did not think there was anything written here that warranted such a harsh judgement two years after the Civil War. Unless of course the new Mayor of 1867 (Banks) held such a strong resentment to Chapman. One thing I like about handwritten journals is that they contain information that you don’t see in history books or Annual Reports.